In communications systems according to new communications standards, such as 5G, long idle times within communications are possible. In order to test the standard-conformity of terminal devices in such systems, it is necessary to test, if these idle times are handled correctly. This though leads to very lengthy tests and thereby to a very high amount of testing equipment time for each device. For example for NB-IoT and eMTC variants, this may be up to 1024×256 ms (around 43.7 minutes). In traditional test setups, a single device under test is attached to a tester. By use of this setup, the testing equipment is idle and merely waits during the idle period to be tested. Especially when testing machine type communications devices MTCD, such long idle times need to be checked. This long idle time is considered a waste of valuable testing resources.
For example the patent publication US 2016/0234774 A1 shows the use of machine type communications devices and the necessity to test long idle times.
This waste of valuable testing equipment time leads to a very inefficient use of the testing equipment.
What is needed, therefore, is a test unit or system and approach for testing communications devices or terminals for communications systems according to new communications standards, such as 5G, where the testing facilitates efficient use of the testing resources (i.e., the test hardware).